Grumpy Editor

Details from 1940 U.S. census go on Internet April 2

Not as speedy as the monthly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment figures currently released for the previous month, the U.S. Census Bureau on April 2 makes available --- via the Internet --- details of the 1940 census from the National Archives, notes Grumpy Editor.

Why the extra long delay?

Official reason:  “Strict confidentiality laws ensure that census records are only unsealed after 72 years have passed."

The 1940 census involved more than 120,000 enumerators who tallied information on 132 million people of which an estimated 21 million are alive today.

Compilation was done the old-fashioned way --- without computers.

It wasn’t until 1951 that the first large-scale computer --- a UNIVAC 1101 with a price tag close to $1 million --- was delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The UNIVAC, short for Universal Automatic Computer, was considered to be the first capable of storing and running a program from memory.  (UNIVAC became a division of Remington-Rand Inc.)

The census form in 1940, a year before the start of World War II, contained 34 questions directed at households plus 16 others aimed at 5 percent.

After the lengthy Great Depression (which started in 1929), one of the most sensitive questions in 1940 dealt with personal income.

So it was placed at the end of the survey.

 

U.S. population grows, wolf enters California, radio talk show replays, Kodak stock sinks, among year-end events

Catching up on some year-end events that Grumpy Editor feels some folks (and editors) may have missed --- 

+ The Census Bureau’s projected U.S. population going into 2012:  312,780,968.  The agency also calculated one birth is expected every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds in the U.S. 

One would think that with more people contributing to the federal pot, taxes would be lowered much like a going-away office party in which the more participants involved mean less contributions per person toward an outlay for a gift. 

+ A dopey year-end Verizon Wireless move to yank $2 a month for online or telephone payments from each customer lasted a day before the pickpocket idea was shelved.  The “convenience fee” plan immediately triggered a lot of grumbling and complaints from users of Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodaphone Group Plc. 

It followed the bad PR Bank of America received two months earlier when it attempted to impose a $5 monthly fee for debit card use. 

+ Associated Press got excited when a lone gray wolf crossed into California from Oregon.  That warranted an eleven-paragraph report, noting the animal --- wearing a global positioning system collar since February --- had wandered more than 300 miles from its original location.  Last gray wolf spotted in California was killed in 1924. 

+ Radio listeners during the holidays heard much of “best of” (the upscale name for repeats) talk shows.  What talk show hosts and their syndicators seem to forget is that radio is hailed for immediacy.  Year-end airing of such things as preparing for Thanksgiving dinners and other “upcoming” events that have long passed is just plain stupid. 

Guest hosts should be used to keep the focus on current events in a fast-moving world.  It’s an opportunity, too, to develop fresh fill-in talent at microphones. 

+ The stock of once-booming Eastman Kodak Co. closed 2011 at 65 cents a share, compared to the year’s high of $5.85.  The struggling image and printing company’s stock sold for about $30 a share on the New York Stock Exchange as recently as mid-2007.  Its last dividend was in December, 2008. 

Three Kodak directors resigned in December as the company works on shoring up an eroding cash position.

Year-end observations conclude tomorrow.

 

Few eyebrows raised on speedy March employment tally

Anyone dealing with the federal government knows it takes time to get responses to simple questions while tabulation of accurate official figures often takes months, sometimes years, so Grumpy Editor finds it interesting that the March “employment situation summary” from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was wrapped up immediately after last Thursday, the last day of the month, ready for dissemination within 8½ hours.

Statistics galore were in the lengthy news release embargoed until 8:30 a.m. (EDT) on April 1.

That’s speedy work on highly-followed data.

The key news was that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.8 percent.

The news release covered March unemployment rates for seven categories of workers and cited the number of those jobless for (the rather odd period) of 27 weeks or more.

The March tally also indicated the number of persons “employed part time for economic reasons” and the number of discouraged workers --- “persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.”

Figures also were associated with March employment in the service-providing sector, the leisure and hospitality category, manufacturing (along with sub-categories), mining and local government, among others.

The news release also pinpointed $22.87 as the “average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls” in March.

(Keep in mind there were about 26 million firms in the latest U.S. Census Bureau count.)

All these figures, and others for March, were assembled before the clock struck midnight, ushering in April.

Eyebrow-raising editors, usually suspicious of  figures --- from attendance at baseball games to precipitation amounts from the Weather Service --- were mum on the instant tabulations that made front pages in many newspapers around the country and led-off radio and television news on April 1.

The words "estimated" or "sampling" did not appear in the news release, indicating the figures were firm.

This month’s employment figures, however, will be issued a few days after April 30.

The summary is scheduled for May 6 --- at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).

 

U.S. Census counts all heads, including detained illegals

For those suspicious about accuracy of government figures --- ranging from population to inflation --- “exhibit A” is that the U.S. Census Bureau counts detained illegal entrants, knowing that most will be deported prior to final population tallies, observes Grumpy Editor.

What’s more, illegal border crossers do not have U.S. Census forms to fill out or census takers to meet.  They are counted via administrative records.

A four-paragraph Associated Press story on the revelation should be in your local newspaper today. 

It carries a Tacoma, Wash. dateline, as does a more detailed version by AP writer Manuel Valdes.

If it skipped by local newspaper editors, here’s what it is all about.

Where the counted illegals are detained determines allocation of federal money.

The funds hypo mostly small towns, key locations for detention centers where illegals face deportation.

Prime beneficiaries for federal funds are small communities housing the largest detention centers in Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Washington.

The nation's biggest detention center in Stewart County, Georgia, for example, contained a total of 14,000 people between April 2007 and March 2008, boosting the county’s normal population of 4,600, notes AP.

That leads to more federal money destined for that locale.

And a question on population accuracy.